earlier when we had visibles, you could see a complete (if broad and asymmetric) center moving nne just east of acklins island (the crooked looking island in the se bahamas). when you have a situation like that, surface winds within the normal parameters for a depression, and a convecton (sheared or not) with a tropical-originating system.. you've got the usual definition of a tropical cyclone.
broad and sloppy multi-vortex systems get classified in the gulf all the time (almost every year, in fact).. when they're twelve to twenty-four hours from the texas coast. the corollary does not apply to a system moving into the open atlantic. this isn't a situation that involves the creation of panic.. you'd think they'd be less reluctant to classify it. i'm sure that joe b is pulling what's left of his hair out over at accuweather.
HF 0106z25may